Thread by @iMusing

good morning☀️happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders are TripleJ political reporter Shalailah Medhora, murdoch political editor Clare Armstrong and 9fax(afr)political editor Phil Coorey. The interview is with opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham.

opening spiel: a year since the election. Navigating great powers does not get easier, Speers tells us, that the prime minister has “discovered” this power thing. #Insiders

the Quad, and the Biden cancellation. Nobody seems to recall Obama cancelled his trip here to purportedly sort out a BP oil spill. #Insiders

the Quad meeting was “promptly cancelled” says Speers and he cites the G7 sideline meeting. If he mentioned Modi is still coming here I missed it. #Insiders

montage. Former foreign minister Bob Carr saying US attention span - for Aust - is short. A polite way of putting it. #Insiders

#MakingNews NYT headlines Zelenskyy at the G7. Japanese and Indian and UK headlines on the Qyad too. Speers then reports climate promises at the G7 and opines that Biden had no choice but to cancel his Aust trip despite the predictability of a debt ceiling brinkmanship #Insiders

panel. Armstrong says Japan Sydney tomarto potayto it is all about a show of strength and the leaders do not say the word China but do talk about stability, an open and free and secure and prosperous Indo Pacific. Spliced clips of leaders saying these key words #Insiders

it is all about the optics, says Coorey, a press gallery journo who is all about the optics. All 3 Speers, Armstrong and Coorey - Medhora has not spoken yet - are implicitly rejecting the murdoch hysteria and SNUB headlines. #Insiders

it does not matter if they do not say the C-word, says Medhora, everyone knows who they are talking about. She says the rare minerals announcement was interesting? I missed that but sorry. #Insiders

what is the third pillar? asks Coorey. Is it trade or the economy? says optics man, befuddled. Let’s unpack it says Speers. It includes critical minerals and clean energy technology says Armstrong. Critical minerals and hydrogen says Speers. Critical. Got it. #Insiders

there is a US Inflation Reduction Bill? apparently which Coorey calls the IRA lol and says the IRA is sucking investment into the US like a giant vacuum. Canada gets this special investment treatment and we might be lucky enough to secure same. #Insiders

clip of Albanese explaining the Biden cancellation. Coorey claims nobody says the USA has reduced its commitment to the region even tho Carr has said that commitment is very low shall we say #Insiders

optics optics says optics man. Armstrong says China is making lemonade out of Australia’s lemons and the lads chortle. The PNG thing (sic) says Coorey. Albanese has had more FaceTime with Biden than previous Aust leaders with POTUS says Armstrong. #Insiders

speaking of FaceTime [between national leaders] its time to talk to Simon Birmingham [an opposition Senator] says Speers. Delusions of grandeur haha #Insiders

another statesman-framing clip of Albanese he is getting quite the red carpet this week. Birmingham opens with the usual condescending explanatory tone Liberals take. They keep forgetting they are minor players now. #Insiders

emissions targets. So you do support Australia’s targets now? Birmingham lectures us on the Paris Agreement, under which the Coalition repealed the price on carbon. #Insiders

the Quad is prosperous maritime nations, according to Birmingham. Who have our own Sovereignty and support a rules based order. They have seen massive change in lifestyle around the region underpinned by trade, says ex trade minister. #Insiders

this oppo spokesman then scolds China about breaching trade agreements and tells us what China does not want from WTO arbitration or findings. How he knows what “China” wants is a mystery given their officials refused to answer his calls when in government. #Insiders

so are you saying Aust delegations should not visit China until the barley and wine tariffs are lifted? Um, not really. Detention of Aust citizens? They should let them go.
That’ll do it mate #Insiders

budget. Will you pass the JSP increase? They have proposed JSP recipients can do more work before the payment is cut back. Have you costed that yet? Working thru the PBO says Birmingham. #Insiders

so you sign off on uncosted policies? They are not in government, says Birmingham. Gas? The Coalition claim here is that the federal government has waged war on the gas industry. They will sit down with their mates and reach their own conclusions on gas pricing #Insiders

anniversary of your defeat. What had the party done to win back professionals *and* women (bc professional is male-coded). Birmingham says they will develop policies to take to the next election and pushes the broken promises/cost of living barrows #Insiders

but have you actually done anything? Women? Anything? Birmingham claims the Coalition will demonstrate their commitment to net zero before the next election. His *only* frame here is the next election. Not policy. Just politics. #Insiders

you keep voting against things tho? Challenges policies promises etc Voice? He will not be going against the party room position says Birmingham (the No vote). He cites Mick Gooda and says the government should go back to the drawing board #Insiders

will you vote No? He will not act contrary to the party position. So a no? That’s a No vote from you? That is the party position. This goes on for a bit until Birmingham says look David the nation faces bigger challenges than his one vote in a referendum. #Insiders

he throws in a bit of skewed and hyper partisan nonsense about the referendum campaigns and we wrap up. Cut straight to Coorey who claims fantastically that Birmingham is a “leading moderate who argues internally” no word on his self-evident failures in this regard #Insiders

trade, China, now Armstrong is telling us what China feels. Aggrieved, apparently. Wing has said there must be no pre-conditions to negotiations. Is the relationship changing? Coorey says stabilised not normalised #Insiders

the relationship will not go back to Howard era when we all got rich off each other says Coorey. What an appalling generalisation. Clip of Chinese ambassador(?) saying tariffs on timber have now been lifted. Our timber quality magically meets standards the panel chuckle #Insiders

the election anniversary. They have put together a clip says David Speers, which has a voice over from David Speers. Voice referendum clip is muddied with the usual “executive” distraction. The next 12 months will be harder than the first intones the voiceover #Insiders

the first 12 months have been marked by this softly softly approach, says Medhora. Centrist. But. Labor won largely off the back of young people and young people want real radical big change she says. Labor is in real danger of losing those young people #Insiders

the Greens are in a position to win some [more] inner city seats says Medhora. The Greens are on the attack, adds Armstrong. She says progress takes time and you can not fix NDIS overnight. Government is trying to build a million houses, Armstrong claims, bafflingly. #Insiders

they have been a very good first year government says Coorey. Ministers are busy, they are implementing policy. It reminds him of Howard, says Coorey again. Howard really was his golden age huh #Insiders

according to Coorey, Greens policies are appealing to young people but unaffordable and “wackily expensive”. Housing is not just a concern for young people, Medhora points out. Propertied white folk forget this. #Insiders

how many years/terms etc Labor might want to get its softly incremental slowly promises change. Armstrong points out that government backbenchers going public eg on JSP were “unleashed” rather than suddenly changed their minds. #Insiders

values, he is building narrative, millions for womens equality review etc says Armstrong. All this ignores actual government decisions on housing via male dominated industries (finance, construction) but not funding ALS for example #Insiders

footage of the Victorian Liberal Party clown show. Medhora says they have to deal with Deeming and Coorey swerves back to Fadden and the Qld LNP and says the Coalition JSP policy is a bit like the Greens throwing values messaging out there god this is unfollowable #Insiders

LNP woman candidate in Fadden? The absence of senior women or women candidates in winnable seats is a Coalition “pipeline problem”, agree Medhora and Armstrong. #Insiders

#TalkingPictures is up. Glen is a back to you David Speers man. #Insiders

https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1660071656629608449

#FinalObs 1 is Medhora on the respectful relationships funding for schools. #Insiders

#FinalObs 2 is Armstrong saying US Sec State. Blinken is visiting PNG even tho Biden is not and pumps up the importance of the Indo Pacific in coming years #Insiders

#FinalObs 3 is Coorey promoting the “executive government” strategy being used by people like Julian Leeser, who oppose the referendum question. He calls this a “split” in the Yes campaign and says a split takes it down (as Leeser presumably knows - Ed) #Insiders

the outtake is Trudeau mangling a handshake I think. I missed the joke. #Insiders

this has been another edition of watching #Insiders so you don’t have to👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼

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